A Second Chance
by Undercover Stegosaurus
Summary: "If I were to send you back, there would be two of you running around. If this past version of yourself was to discover who you are, the results would be disastrous." It's been 3 months since the Fire Nation won the war. Desperate to do it over, Aang figures out a way to travel back in time, and fix his errors. He just never expected changing history to be so complicated.


**Hey everyone! This is an idea that I've had for quite some time, that I've finally decided to write. I hope you enjoy:)**

The Gaang was exhausted. It had been three months since Sozin's comet, and they had lost. Miserably.

Azula had nearly killed Zuko in their fateful Agni Kai. If Katara had not been able to slow Azula down, Zuko would have certainly perished. Evenif it was just for a few minutes, it was enough for her to jump on Appa, and escape with the banished prince. Katara would never forget theutter loathing that filled Azula's eyes, as the psychotic princess struggled to escape her chains. The horrifying moment when Azula miraculously broke through, and looked right at her. The way she and Zuko ran to for their lives.

Aang hadn't fared much better. Ozai had almost killed him, but then, after delivering what should have been a fatal blow, decided to leavehim on the rocky cliffs to die. Sokka, Toph, and Suki had abandoned their mission, and immediately gone over to help the little monk. Aang was badly injured, having broken several ribs, and having multiple bruises and burn marks. Sokka had wrapped his ribs, trying to make do until Katara came back. After what felt like a lifetime of pacing back and forth, worrying about his friend, he heard the familiar grunt of Appa. Sokka then knew he had nothing to fear. Aang would make it. Katara was able to heal most of Aang's injuries. Under her careful hands, the bruises vanished. The pain in his ribs lightened, however, she couldn't fully repair the bone, for that was far beyond her healing capacity. She did perform daily healing sessions with him, as to speed up his recovery, and help with the pain. The memories hat would haunt his mind, could unfortunately never be healed.

The Fire Nation had taken over everything. There were new laws, forbidding earthbending, and waterbending. New taxes were created, demanding people to pay the Phoenix King, and stripping them of their money. Children were to be taught the Fire Nation Way. A child born in what was once the Earth Kingdom, would be brought up to believe fire was the superior element. They were to be trained to fight off any forms of rebellion, and to kill their own people if necessary. The Phoenix King was their god, and they were pledge their lives to him. Slowly, all cultures, other than that of the Fire Nation, would be lost to the world. Aang still had a hard time believing it, but he knew, deep in his heart, Phoenix King Ozai was truly unstoppable. It was all his fault. He had failed his friends. He had failed the world.

* * *

"It's all your fault!" Katara glared at the airbender, eyes full of hatred. "It was your responsibility to save the world, but instead, you helped destroy it!"

"I'm sorry, I tried. I really did!" Aang pleaded.

Katara furrowed her eyebrows, and leaned in close to the airbender "Sorry, but 'tried' isn't good enough. Thanks to you, my life is a living nightmare!" The harsh

words off her tongue hurt.

"Katara, I.." Aang hesitated.

"You what?" The Water Tribe girl spat at him. Aang couldn't speak. His throat felt dry, and his hands were clammy. Katara's once kind and sympathetic face dripped in anger, and hatred. Her once neat hair was wild, and out of place, almost as if she had given up. Instead of fixing things, all she wanted to do was blame Aang. The Air Nomad couldn't help but wonder. When did his relationship with Katara go so down hill? She had once been his best friend, but now, he could tell she loathed him. "Well, Aang? What is it?" She asked impatiently. "Aang?" He said nothing. "AANG!"

Aang's eyes snapped open, and he saw Katara looking over him, full of worry.

"Are you okay? You were shaking, and screaming apologies."

"Yeah. It was just a nightmare." Aang quietly gazed at her, secretly relived it had just been a dream.

"Aang, I'm really worried about you. Do you want to talk about it?" The waterbender put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"No, not really." Aang sighed. He glanced around, taking in his surroundings for the first time since he had woken up. It was early morning, as the sun was still rising. Sokka was in a deep sleep, murmuring to himself something about meat. A thin trail of drool escaped from the corner of his mouth, collecting in a puddle next to his head. Suki was laying next to Sokka, clearly awake, as she had a slight look of disgust on her face from the drool. Aang couldn't tell if Toph was awake or not, due to the fact she was concealed in an earth tent, but he assumed she hadn't woken. He then noticed someone was missing. "Hey, Katara? Where's Zuko?" Aang, asked, curious.

"What? Oh I think he's off practicing with his swords somewhere. He was up before me." She replied. Aang nodded. It made sense. Zuko was a firebender. He rose with the sun. Thinking back to his dream, Aang looked down at his lap, letting his feelings of regret take over. Why hadn't he been able to stop Ozai?

"I'm going to go meditate." He excused himself.

"Okay.." Katara looked slightly confused at his sudden urge to leave.

* * *

Aang made his way towards the stream they had camped near. He sat in the lotus position, and began to focus. Breathe In. Breathe Out. He tried to clear his mind, just like the monks had taught him. Aang shifted around a bit, trying to get more comfortable.

"I wish I knew a way to fix this mess." The airbender said to no one in particular. He looked up at the sky, and sighed. Suddenly, an idea stuck him. Why didn't he call on his past lives? "Avatar Roku, I need your guidance." There was a whisp of blue smoke, and the familiar form of Roku appeared in front of him.

"Hello, Aang." Roku smiled at Aang. His voice was gentle, and soothing. "I am always here to guide you."

"Avatar Roku, I don't know what to do. I've let down the world. Every day I feel like a failure, and I don't even know how my friends can stand to be around me. I keep having these dreams, where Katara is screaming at me, blaming me for the destruction of the world. I'm so confused, and I don't know where I went wrong!" Aang blurted out. His voice slightly cracking, as he was attempting not to cry. "I wish I could do it all over."

"You can." Roku said simply.

"I know I can't ever-wait what?" Aang looked questionably at his past self.

"You can." Roku said again, this time, a little firmer.

"I can-but what-how?" The nomad looked flabbergasted. How was this even possible?

Roku's eyes twinkled as he spoke. "There are some types of spirit magic, strong enough to send one back in time. I posses this power. However, I cannot replace the version of you that already exists at that moment in time."

"So you're saying-"

"If I were to send you back, there would be two of you running around. If this past version of yourself was to discover who you are, the results would be disastrous. If you are willing to take this risk, I can send you back so you can prevent your defeat at Sozin's comet."

"Couldn't you just send me back 100 years ago, so I can prevent the war from even happening?" Aang asked.

"Unfortunately, no." Roku stroked his beard thoughtfully. "No being is strong enough to do that."

"How come you never mentioned this before?" Aang was curious.

"I never felt the need to." Roku said simply. "Now if you would like to, I can send you back right now."

"Right now?" The airbender's eyes widened. Roku nodded.

"Wait! Can I bring my friends?"

Roku thought for a moment, then nodded again. "If you would like."

"Do I need to go grab them or-"

"There is no need. Roku placed his thumb on Aang's forehead, and closed his eyes. Aang felt a slight tingle, and was surrounded by a strange white light. The next thing he felt was extreme cold.

* * *

_ Swish. _Zuko's sword cut effortlessly through the long stalk of bamboo. He swung again, full force. _Swoosh._ The bamboo fell to the ground, in several evenly cut pieces. The ex Prince's forehead was beaded with sweat. He had been at it all morning. _You were lucky to be born. _His father's words echoed in his mind. _Whack_ went the swords, cutting through several more stalks of bamboo. _Failure. _Zuko narrowed his eyes, at the plant, imagining it was his father. _Swish _went the swords, as he swung again, trying to clear his mind.

Noticing he was panting, the firebender steadied his breath, and focused on his target. He raised his arms, to strike gain, when he felt a weird tingle take over his body. He lowered the swords, and looked down at himself, to see if anything was on him. He never got the chance to see, as he was swallowed up by the white.

* * *

Katara knocked on Toph's tent for the eighth time, extremely frustrated.

"Toph! It's time to wake up! We need to pack up, and get out of here!" Katara frowned. She shouldn't have tried to get Toph up first. If that girl didn't want to get up, she wouldn't get up. Katara knocked again, this time more forcefully. They needed to get a move on. The Fire Empire soldiers could show up any second. "Toph! Come on!" She waited a couple of seconds, hands impatiently on her hips. She raised her fist to knock again, and was surprised to see the door sink back into the earth.

"I'm coming, Sweetness. You can calm down." Toph sounded annoyed.

"Come on. We need to-" Katara stopped talking mid sentence. A small gasp escaped her lips.

"What? What is it?" The blind girl asked, clearly confused. She felt a strange sensation take over her body, and then felt a coldness on her feet, realizing shortly after she couldn't see a thing. "Katara, what did you do?"

* * *

Sokka looked around, full of despair. He loved meat. He never thought it would betray him. Yet here he was, trapped in a maze made of meat. He had at first tried to eat his way out, but every bite he took of the meat, a new one appeared in it's place. He was starting to feel there was no way out. He had been going in circles for hours now, with only Momo as a companion. The lemur had spent the entire time insulting Sokka, making fun of his instincts, telling him he had a stupid haircut, and constantly bringing up the fact he couldn't bend. Sokka just wanted to yell at Momo to shut up. He didn't even question the fact Momo was talking.

Sokka sighed, noticing he had come to yet another dead end. The air reeked of old meat, and Sokka felt sick to his stomach. Every bone in his body felt weird, and out of place. "You're pathetic." Momo screeched at him. "You smell, and you have a worse sense of direction than a blind platypus bear." Sokka rolled his eyes, and started trudging in the opposite direction. He would get out of this maze. "You're a dumb, whiny non-bender." Momo was inches away from Sokka's face. "Nobody wants you." The Water Tribe boy could feel the lemur's breath against his skin. It was cold, and somewhat icy. Wait icy? That isn't possible. Sokka thought to himself. And since when can Momo talk?

"This is a dream!" Sokka came to a conclusion. And immediatly woke up. However, instead of the earthy terrain he had gone to bed on, all he saw was ice, and snow. Sokka's eyes widened in shock. He was at the South Pole.

**AN: So there you go! Chapter 1. Woo. Please review, and if you guys are digging it, expect more chapters soon! Have a great day!**


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